Search form

Search form

Yahoo has purchased Loki Studios, a developer of location-based mobile games. Financial terms weren't revealed. The Loki staff will move on to mobile services in general, according to Yahoo, which also recently bought Astrid, GoPollGo and Milewise to enhance its mobile efforts.

Related Summaries

GasBuddy's Mike Schneider talks about the best companies to partner with on location data, how beacons are evolving and the value of location-based data in business-to-business marketing. "It is a lot less important for B2B, where much of the selling is done through partnerships and relationships, than for B2C," Schneider says.

A multiscreen real-time trading offering for location-based marketers is on tap from Verve Mobile and Vistar Media. The two companies are teaming up to bring Verve's location-based data to Vistar's location-based video platform and inventory. "Surrounding consumers with large-format digital screens as they are outside of their homes and near the point of purchase has always been the value of our location-based video inventory. However, we have also been asked by numerous advertisers to find a way to connect our platform with mobile," said Vistar's Jeremy Ozen.

Yahoo has purchased Astrid, a mobile application for social productivity. Financial terms weren't revealed. "Over the next 90 days, Astrid will continue to work as is, and we will no longer be accepting new premium subscriptions," Astrid said in a blog post. "To make future changes as easy as possible, we'll be in touch with users shortly to share how to download data."

Around the world, location-based services are in high demand, with about 1 in 5 mobile owners already using such services and 3 in 5 overall expressing a desire for them, according to a Mobile Life report from TNS. Among 20% of European respondents, finding friends was cited as a priority. Globally, about the same proportion said they wouldn't mind receiving location-based advertising.

Skyhook Wireless has announced new software, called Loki 2.0, that uses mobile hot spots to provide mobile users with location-based services. Convergence between GPS technology and mobile services continues to expand, as market research firm iSuppli reports that handset manufacturers are expected to ship almost 29 million Wi-Fi-enabled units this year.